Systems and methods for determining a region of interest in medical imaging

ABSTRACT

A method for determining an ROI in medical imaging may include receiving first position information related to a body contour of a subject with respect to a support from a flexible device configured with a plurality of position sensors. The flexible device may be configured to conform to the body contour of the subject, and the support may be configured to support the subject. The method may also include generating a 3D model of the subject based on the first position information. The method may further include determining an ROI of the subject based on the 3D model of the subject.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation of International Application No.PCT/CN/2017/120280, filed on Dec. 29, 2017.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to medical imaging, and moreparticularly, relates to systems and methods for determining a positionof a region of interest (ROI) in medical imaging.

BACKGROUND

Medical imaging technology has been widely used for clinical examinationand medical diagnosis in recent years. When using a medical imagingdevice to perform a scan, an operator (e.g., a doctor, a technician,etc.) needs to determine a position of an ROI of a patient for scanning.The position of the ROI may be determined by the operator with the helpof a pre-scanned image of the patient. The pre-scanning on the patientrequires extra time and energy of the operator. The efficiency of themedical imaging process may be decreased. Further, a pre-scanning on thepatient may cause extra and unnecessary radiation to the patient.Therefore, it is desirable to develop systems and methods fordetermining an ROI of a patient for scanning in medical imagingefficiently and effectively.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a system fordetermining an ROI in medical imaging is provided. The system mayinclude a storage device storing a set of instructions, and at least oneprocessor in communication with the storage device. When executing theset of instructions, the at least one processor may be configured tocause the system to receive, from a flexible device configured with aplurality of position sensors, first position information related to abody contour of a subject with respect to a support. The flexible devicemay be configured to conform to the body contour of the subject. Thesupport may be configured to support the subject. The at least oneprocessor may cause the system to generate, based on the first positioninformation, a 3-dimensional (3D) model of the subject. The at least oneprocessor may also cause the system to determine, based on the 3D modelof the subject, an ROI of the subject.

In some embodiments, the flexible device may include a plurality ofunits arranged in an array. Each of the plurality of units may includeone or more position sensors of the plurality of position sensors. Eachpair of adjacent units of the plurality of units may be connected toeach other via a flexible connector.

In some embodiments, a unit of the plurality of units may include afirst layer covering the one or more position sensors of the unit.

In some embodiments, the unit of the plurality of units may furtherinclude a second layer. The one or more position sensors of the unit maybe sandwiched between the first layer and the second layer.

In some embodiments, at least one of the first layer or the second laymay be made of a compound of artificial fiber and plant fiber.

In some embodiments, to determine the ROI of the subject, the at leastone processor may be further configured to cause the system todetermine, based on the 3D model of the subject, a position of the ROIinside the subject. The at least one processor may also cause the systemto obtain second position information of the subject with respect to theimaging device. The at least one processor may determine, based on theposition of the ROI inside the subject and the second positioninformation, the ROI of the subject.

In some embodiments, at least part of the second information may beacquired from an image acquisition device or a plurality of pressuresensors configured in the support.

In some embodiments, to determine the position of the ROI inside thesubject, the at least one processor may be configured to cause thesystem to acquire information associated with thermal distribution ofthe subject. The at least one processor may also determine, based on the3D model of the subject and the information associated with thermaldistribution of the subject, the position of the ROI inside the subject.

In some embodiments, at least one of the flexible device or the supportmay include one or more thermal sensors, and at least part of theinformation associated with thermal distribution of the subject may beacquired from the one or more thermal sensors.

In some embodiments, to determine the position of the ROI inside thesubject, the at least one processor may be configured to cause thesystem to acquire physiological data related to the subject, and acquireanatomical information associated with the subject. The at least oneprocessor may also determine the position of the ROI inside the subjectbased on the 3D model of the subject, the physiological data, andanatomical information associated with the subject,

In some embodiments, the anatomical information associated with thesubject may include at least one of historical anatomical information ofthe subject or anatomical information of one or more reference samplesrelated to the subject.

In some embodiments, at least part of the physiological data may beacquired from the support or be determined based on the 3D model of thesubject.

In some embodiments, the flexible device may be a wearable device.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a system fordetermining an ROI in medical imaging is provided. The system mayinclude a storage device storing a set of instructions and at least oneprocessor in communication with the storage device. When executing theset of instructions, the at least one processor may be configured tocause the system to receive one or more images of structured lightprojected by a projector on a subject. The at least one processor maygenerate, based on the one or more images of the structured lightprojected on the subject, a 3D model of the subject. The at least oneprocessor may also determine, based on the 3D model of the subject, anROI of the subject.

In some embodiments, the structured light may be at least one ofstructured light spot, structured light stripe, or structured lightgrid.

In some embodiments, the one or more images of the structured light maybe received from an imaging acquisition device. The imaging device mayfurther include an extendable pole configured to control a position ofat least one of the imaging acquisition device or the projector.

In some embodiments, the projector may further include a plurality ofsub-projectors arranged in an arc. Each sub-projector of the pluralityof sub-projectors may be configured to project at least a portion of thestructured light on the subject.

In some embodiments, the one or more images of the structured light maybe received from an imaging acquisition device. The imaging acquisitiondevice may further include a plurality of sub-imaging acquisitiondevices arranged in an arc. Each sub-imaging acquisition device of theplurality of sub-imaging acquisition devices may be configured tocapture one of the one or more images of the structured light.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a system fordetermining an ROI is provided. The system may include a storage devicestoring a set of instructions and at least one processor incommunication with the storage device. When executing the set ofinstructions, the at least one processor may be configured to cause thesystem to receive distance information from a body contour of a subjectto a light pulse generator. The distance information may be determinedbased on time of flight (TOF) information associated with light pulsesemitted by the light pulse generator toward the subject. The at leastone processor may cause the system to generate, based on the TOFinformation, a 3D model of the subject. The at least one processor maycause the system to determine, based on the 3D model of the subject, aregion of interest (ROI) of the subject.

In some embodiments, the light pulse generator may move when emittingthe light pulses toward the subject. The movement of the light pulsegenerator may be controlled by an extendable pole of the imaging device.

In some embodiments, the light pulse generator may further include aplurality of sub-light pulse generators arranged in an arc. Eachsub-light pulse generator of the plurality of sub-light pulse generatorsmay be configured to emit at least a portion of the light pulses towardthe subject.

Additional features will be set forth in part in the description whichfollows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the artupon examination of the following and the accompanying drawings or maybe learned by production or operation of the examples. The features ofthe present disclosure may be realized and attained by practice or useof various aspects of the methodologies, instrumentalities andcombinations set forth in the detailed examples discussed below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is further described in terms of exemplaryembodiments. These exemplary embodiments are described in detail withreference to the drawings. The drawings are not to scale. Theseembodiments are non-limiting exemplary embodiments, in which likereference numerals represent similar structures throughout the severalviews of the drawings, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary imaging systemaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary hardware and/orsoftware components of an exemplary computing device according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary hardware and/orsoftware components of an exemplary mobile device according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary processing engineaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for scanning asubject by an imaging device according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for determiningan ROI of a subject according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 7A is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for determininga position of an ROI inside a subject based on thermal distributioninformation according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7B is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for determininga position of an ROI inside a subject based on physiological data andanatomical information according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 8A to 8C are schematic diagrams illustrating an exemplary imagingsystem according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary flexible deviceaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for scanning asubject by an imaging device according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for scanning asubject by an imaging device according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary imaging systemaccording to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 13A to 13E are schematic diagrams illustrating an exemplaryimaging device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 14A to 14B are schematic diagrams illustrating an exemplaryimaging device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;and

FIG. 14C illustrates exemplary images of a subject generated based oninformation acquisition components of an imaging device according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are setforth by way of examples in order to provide a thorough understanding ofthe relevant disclosure. However, it should be apparent to those skilledin the art that the present disclosure may be practiced without suchdetails. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, systems,components, and/or circuitry have been described at a relativelyhigh-level, without detail, in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuringaspects of the present disclosure. Various modifications to thedisclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in theart, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to otherembodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not limitedto the embodiments shown, but to be accorded the widest scope consistentwith the claims.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularexample embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As usedherein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprise,”“comprises,” and/or “comprising,” “include,” “includes,” and/or“including,” when used in this specification, specify the presence ofstated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components,and/or groups thereof.

It will be understood that the term “system,” “engine,” “unit,”“module,” and/or “block” used herein are one method to distinguishdifferent components, elements, parts, section or assembly of differentlevel in ascending order. However, the terms may be displaced by otherexpression if they achieve the same purpose.

Generally, the word “module,” “unit,” or “block,” as used herein, refersto logic embodied in hardware or firmware, or to a collection ofsoftware instructions. A module, a unit, or a block described herein maybe implemented as software and/or hardware and may be stored in any typeof non-transitory computer-readable medium or other storage device. Insome embodiments, a software module/unit/block may be compiled andlinked into an executable program. It will be appreciated that softwaremodules can be callable from other modules/units/blocks or fromthemselves, and/or may be invoked in response to detected events orinterrupts. Software modules/units/blocks configured for execution oncomputing devices (e.g., processor 210 as illustrated in FIG. 2) may beprovided on a computer-readable medium, such as a compact disc, adigital video disc, a flash drive, a magnetic disc, or any othertangible medium, or as a digital download (and can be originally storedin a compressed or installable format that needs installation,decompression, or decryption prior to execution). Such software code maybe stored, partially or fully, on a storage device of the executingcomputing device, for execution by the computing device. Softwareinstructions may be embedded in a firmware, such as an EPROM. It will befurther appreciated that hardware modules/units/blocks may be includedin connected logic components, such as gates and flip-flops, and/or canbe included of programmable units, such as programmable gate arrays orprocessors. The modules/units/blocks or computing device functionalitydescribed herein may be implemented as software modules/units/blocks,but may be represented in hardware or firmware. In general, themodules/units/blocks described herein refer to logicalmodules/units/blocks that may be combined with othermodules/units/blocks or divided into sub-modules/sub-units/sub-blocksdespite their physical organization or storage. The description may beapplicable to a system, an engine, or a portion thereof.

It will be understood that when a unit, engine, module or block isreferred to as being “on,” “connected to,” or “coupled to,” anotherunit, engine, module, or block, it may be directly on, connected orcoupled to, or communicate with the other unit, engine, module, orblock, or an intervening unit, engine, module, or block may be present,unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, the term“and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of theassociated listed items.

These and other features, and characteristics of the present disclosure,as well as the methods of operation and functions of the relatedelements of structure and the combination of parts and economies ofmanufacture, may become more apparent upon consideration of thefollowing description with reference to the accompanying drawings, allof which form a part of this disclosure. It is to be expresslyunderstood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose ofillustration and description only and are not intended to limit thescope of the present disclosure. It is understood that the drawings arenot to scale.

Provided herein are systems and components for an imaging system. Insome embodiments, the imaging system may include a single modalityimaging system and/or a multi-modality imaging system. The singlemodality imaging system may include, for example, an X-ray imagingsystem, an computed tomography (CT) system, a magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) system, an ultrasonography system, a positron emission tomography(PET) system, or the like, or any combination thereof. Themulti-modality imaging system may include, for example, an X-rayimaging-magnetic resonance imaging (X-ray-MRI) system, a positronemission tomography-X-ray imaging (PET-X-ray) system, a single photonemission computed tomography-magnetic resonance imaging (SPECT-MRI)system, a positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT)system, a C-arm system, a digital subtraction angiography-magneticresonance imaging (DSA-MRI) system, etc. It should be noted that theimaging system described below is merely provided for illustrationpurposes, and not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure provides mechanisms (which can include methods,systems, computer-readable medium, etc.) for determining a region ofinterest (ROI) of a subject for medical examination. For example, thesystems and/or methods provided in the present disclosure may determinea three-dimensional (3D) model of the subject, and determine the ROIbased on the 3D model and/or the spatial position of the subject withrespect to the imaging device. The 3D model of the subject may bedetermined by various ways disclosed in the present disclosure. Forexample, the 3D model may be determined based on a flexible deviceconfigured with a plurality of position sensors, structured lightprojected on the subject, time of flight (TOF) information associatedwith light pulses emitted toward the subject, or the like, or anycombination thereof.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary imaging system100 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown,the imaging system 100 may include an imaging device 110, a network 120,one or more terminals 130, a processing engine 140, and a storage device150. In some embodiments, the imaging device 110, the terminal(s) 130,the processing engine 140, and/or the storage device 150 may beconnected to and/or communicate with each other via a wirelessconnection (e.g., the network 120), a wired connection, or a combinationthereof. The connection between the components of the imaging system 100may be variable. Merely by way of example, the imaging device 110 may beconnected to the processing engine 140 through the network 120, asillustrated in FIG. 1. As another example, the imaging device 110 may beconnected to the processing engine 140 directly. As a further example,the storage device 150 may be connected to the processing engine 140through the network 120, as illustrated in FIG. 1, or connected to theprocessing engine 140 directly. As still a further example, a terminal130 may be connected to the processing engine 140 through the network120, as illustrated in FIG. 1, or connected to the processing engine 140directly.

The imaging device 110 may generate or provide image data via scanning asubject (e.g., a patient) disposed on a scanning table of the imagingdevice 110. In some embodiments, the imaging device 110 may include asingle-modality scanner and/or multi-modality scanner. Thesingle-modality scanner may include, for example, a computed tomography(CT) scanner. The multi-modality scanner may include a single photonemission computed tomography-computed tomography (SPECT-CT) scanner, apositron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) scanner, acomputed tomography-ultra-sonic (CT-US) scanner, a digital subtractionangiography-computed tomography (DSA-CT) scanner, or the like, or acombination thereof. In some embodiments, the image data may includeprojection data, images relating to the subject, etc. The projectiondata may be raw data generated by the imaging device 110 by scanning thesubject, or data generated by a forward projection on an image relatingto the subject. In some embodiments, the subject may include a body, asubstance, an object, or the like, or a combination thereof. In someembodiments, the subject may include a specific portion of a body, suchas a head, a thorax, an abdomen, or the like, or a combination thereof.In some embodiments, the subject may include a specific organ or regionof interest, such as an esophagus, a trachea, a bronchus, a stomach, agallbladder, a small intestine, a colon, a bladder, a ureter, a uterus,a fallopian tube, etc.

In some embodiments, the imaging device 110 may include a gantry 111, adetector 112, a detecting region 113, a scanning table 114, and aradioactive scanning source 115. The gantry 111 may support the detector112 and the radioactive scanning source 115. A subject may be placed onthe scanning table 114 to be scanned. The radioactive scanning source115 may emit radioactive rays to the subject. The radiation may includea particle ray, a photon ray, or the like, or a combination thereof. Insome embodiments, the radiation may include a plurality of radiationparticles (e.g., neutrons, protons, electron, p-mesons, heavy ions), aplurality of radiation photons (e.g., X-ray, a y-ray, ultraviolet,laser), or the like, or a combination thereof. The detector 112 maydetect radiations and/or radiation events (e.g., gamma photons) emittedfrom the detecting region 113. In some embodiments, the detector 112 mayinclude a plurality of detector units. The detector units may include ascintillation detector (e.g., a cesium iodide detector) or a gasdetector. The detector unit may be a single-row detector or a multi-rowsdetector.

In some embodiments, the imaging device 110 may be integrated with oneor more other devices that may facilitate the scanning of the subject,such as, an image-recording device. The image-recording device may beconfigured to take various types of images related to the subject. Forexample, the image-recording device may be a two-dimensional (2D) camerathat takes pictures of the exterior or outline of the subject. Asanother example, the image-recording device may be a 3D scanner (e.g., alaser scanner, an infrared scanner, a 3D CMOS sensor) that records thespatial representation of the subject.

The network 120 may include any suitable network that can facilitateexchange of information and/or data for the imaging system 100. In someembodiments, one or more components of the imaging system 100 (e.g., theimaging device 110, the processing engine 140, the storage device 150,the terminal(s) 130) may communicate information and/or data with one ormore other components of the imaging system 100 via the network 120. Forexample, the processing engine 140 may obtain image data from theimaging device 110 via the network 120. As another example, theprocessing engine 140 may obtain user instruction(s) from theterminal(s) 130 via the network 120. The network 120 may be or include apublic network (e.g., the Internet), a private network (e.g., a localarea network (LAN)), a wired network, a wireless network (e.g., an802.11 network, a Wi-Fi network), a frame relay network, a virtualprivate network (VPN), a satellite network, a telephone network,routers, hubs, switches, server computers, and/or any combinationthereof. For example, the network 120 may include a cable network, awireline network, a fiber-optic network, a telecommunications network,an intranet, a wireless local area network (WLAN), a metropolitan areanetwork (MAN), a public telephone switched network (PSTN), a Bluetooth™network, a ZigBee™ network, a near field communication (NFC) network, orthe like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the network120 may include one or more network access points. For example, thenetwork 120 may include wired and/or wireless network access points suchas base stations and/or internet exchange points through which one ormore components of the imaging system 100 may be connected to thenetwork 120 to exchange data and/or information.

The terminal(s) 130 may be connected to and/or communicate with theimaging device 110, the processing engine 140, and/or the storage device150. For example, the terminal(s) 130 may obtain a processed image fromthe processing engine 140. As another example, the terminal(s) 130 mayobtain image data acquired via the imaging device 110 and transmit theimage data to the processing engine 140 to be processed. In someembodiments, the terminal(s) 130 may include a mobile device 131, atablet computer 132, a laptop computer 133, or the like, or anycombination thereof. For example, the mobile device 131 may include amobile phone, a personal digital assistance (PDA), a gaming device, anavigation device, a point of sale (POS) device, a laptop, a tabletcomputer, a desktop, or the like, or any combination thereof. In someembodiments, the terminal(s) 130 may include an input device, an outputdevice, etc. The input device may include alphanumeric and other keysthat may be input via a keyboard, a touch screen (for example, withhaptics or tactile feedback), a speech input, an eye tracking input, abrain monitoring system, or any other comparable input mechanism. Theinput information received through the input device may be transmittedto the processing engine 140 via, for example, a bus, for furtherprocessing. Other types of the input device may include a cursor controldevice, such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys, etc. Theoutput device may include a display, a speaker, a printer, or the like,or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the terminal(s) 130 maybe part of the processing engine 140.

The processing engine 140 may process data and/or information obtainedfrom the imaging device 110, the storage device 150, the terminal(s)130, or other components of the imaging system 100. For example, theprocessing engine 140 may reconstruct an image based on projection datagenerated by the imaging device 110. As another example, the processingengine 140 may determine the position of a target region (e.g., a regionin a patient) to be scanned by the imaging device 110. In someembodiments, the processing engine 140 may be a single server or aserver group. The server group may be centralized or distributed. Insome embodiments, the processing engine 140 may be local to or remotefrom the imaging system 100. For example, the processing engine 140 mayaccess information and/or data from the imaging device 110, the storagedevice 150, and/or the terminal(s) 130 via the network 120. As anotherexample, the processing engine 140 may be directly connected to theimaging device 110, the terminal(s) 130, and/or the storage device 150to access information and/or data. In some embodiments, the processingengine 140 may be implemented on a cloud platform. For example, thecloud platform may include a private cloud, a public cloud, a hybridcloud, a community cloud, a distributed cloud, an inter-cloud, amulti-cloud, or the like, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments,the processing engine 140 may be implemented by a computing device 200having one or more components as described in connection with FIG. 2.

The storage device 150 may store data, instructions, and/or any otherinformation. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may store dataobtained from the processing engine 140, the terminal(s) 130, and/or theinteraction device 150. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 maystore data and/or instructions that the processing engine 140 mayexecute or use to perform exemplary methods described in the presentdisclosure. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may include amass storage, a removable storage, a volatile read-and-write memory, aread-only memory (ROM), or the like, or any combination thereof.Exemplary mass storage may include a magnetic disk, an optical disk, asolid-state drive, etc. Exemplary removable storage may include a flashdrive, a floppy disk, an optical disk, a memory card, a zip disk, amagnetic tape, etc. Exemplary volatile read-and-write memory may includea random access memory (RAM). Exemplary RAM may include a dynamic RAM(DRAM), a double date rate synchronous dynamic RAM (DDR SDRAM), a staticRAM (SRAM), a thyristor RAM (T-RAM), and a zero-capacitor RAM (Z-RAM),etc. Exemplary ROM may include a mask ROM (MROM), a programmable ROM(PROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasableprogrammable ROM (EEPROM), a compact disk ROM (CD-ROM), and a digitalversatile disk ROM, etc. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 maybe implemented on a cloud platform as described elsewhere in thedisclosure.

In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may be connected to thenetwork 120 to communicate with one or more other components of theimaging system 100 (e.g., the processing engine 140, the terminal(s)130). One or more components of the imaging system 100 may access thedata or instructions stored in the storage device 150 via the network120. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may be part of theprocessing engine 140.

In some embodiments, a three-dimensional coordinate system may be usedin the imaging system 100 as illustrated in FIG. 1. A first axis may beparallel to the lateral direction of the scanning table 114 (e.g., the Xdirection perpendicular to and pointing out of the paper as shown inFIG. 1). A second axis may be parallel to the longitudinal direction ofthe scanning table 114 (e.g., the Z direction as shown in FIG. 1). Athird axis may be along a vertical direction of the scanning table 114(e.g., the Y direction as shown in FIG. 1). The origin of thethree-dimensional coordinate system may be any point in the space. Theorigin of the three-dimensional coordinate system may be determined byan operator. The origin of the three-dimensional coordinate system maybe determined by the imaging system 100.

This description is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit thescope of the present disclosure. Many alternatives, modifications, andvariations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The features,structures, methods, and other characteristics of the exemplaryembodiments described herein may be combined in various ways to obtainadditional and/or alternative exemplary embodiments. For example, thestorage device 150 may be a data storage including cloud computingplatforms, such as, public cloud, private cloud, community, and hybridclouds, etc. However, those variations and modifications do not departthe scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary hardware and/orsoftware components of an exemplary computing device 200 on which theprocessing engine 140 may be implemented according to some embodimentsof the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the computingdevice 200 may include a processor 210, a storage 220, an input/output(I/O) 230, and a communication port 240.

The processor 210 may execute computer instructions (e.g., program code)and perform functions of the processing engine 140 in accordance withtechniques described herein. The computer instructions may include, forexample, routines, programs, objects, components, data structures,procedures, modules, and functions, which perform particular functionsdescribed herein. For example, the processor 210 may process image dataobtained from the imaging device 110, the terminals 130, the storagedevice 150, and/or any other component of the imaging system 100. Insome embodiments, the processor 210 may include one or more hardwareprocessors, such as a microcontroller, a microprocessor, a reducedinstruction set computer (RISC), an application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), an application-specific instruction-set processor(ASIP), a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), a physics processing unit (PPU), a microcontroller unit, adigital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA),an advanced RISC machine (ARM), a programmable logic device (PLD), anycircuit or processor capable of executing one or more functions, or thelike, or any combinations thereof.

Merely for illustration, only one processor is described in thecomputing device 200. However, it should be noted that the computingdevice 200 in the present disclosure may also include multipleprocessors, thus operations and/or method operations that are performedby one processor as described in the present disclosure may also bejointly or separately performed by the multiple processors. For example,if in the present disclosure the processor of the computing device 200executes both operation A and operation B, it should be understood thatoperation A and operation B may also be performed by two or moredifferent processors jointly or separately in the computing device 200(e.g., a first processor executes operation A and a second processorexecutes operation B, or the first and second processors jointly executeoperation s A and B).

The storage 220 may store data/information obtained from the imagingdevice 110, the terminals 130, the storage device 150, and/or any othercomponent of the imaging system 100. In some embodiments, the storage220 may include a mass storage, a removable storage, a volatileread-and-write memory, a read-only memory (ROM), or the like, or anycombination thereof. For example, the mass storage may include amagnetic disk, an optical disk, a solid-state drives, etc. The removablestorage may include a flash drive, a floppy disk, an optical disk, amemory card, a zip disk, a magnetic tape, etc. The volatileread-and-write memory may include a random access memory (RAM). The RAMmay include a dynamic RAM (DRAM), a double date rate synchronous dynamicRAM (DDR SDRAM), a static RAM (SRAM), a thyristor RAM (T-RAM), and azero-capacitor RAM (Z-RAM), etc. The ROM may include a mask ROM (MROM),a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), anelectrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a compact disk ROM(CD-ROM), and a digital versatile disk ROM, etc. In some embodiments,the storage 220 may store one or more programs and/or instructions toperform exemplary methods described in the present disclosure. Forexample, the storage 220 may store a program for the processing engine140 for determining the position of a target region of a subject (e.g.,a target portion of a patient).

The I/O 230 may input and/or output signals, data, information, etc. Insome embodiments, the I/O 230 may enable a user interaction with theprocessing engine 140. In some embodiments, the I/O 230 may include aninput device and an output device. Examples of the input device mayinclude a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, a microphone, or the like,or a combination thereof. Examples of the output device may include adisplay device, a loudspeaker, a printer, a projector, or the like, or acombination thereof. Examples of the display device may include a liquidcrystal display (LCD), a light-emitting diode (LED)-based display, aflat panel display, a curved screen, a television device, a cathode raytube (CRT), a touch screen, or the like, or a combination thereof.

The communication port 240 may be connected to a network (e.g., thenetwork 120) to facilitate data communications. The communication port240 may establish connections between the processing engine 140 and theimaging device 110, the terminals 130, and/or the storage device 150.The connection may be a wired connection, a wireless connection, anyother communication connection that can enable data transmission and/orreception, and/or any combination of these connections. The wiredconnection may include, for example, an electrical cable, an opticalcable, a telephone wire, or the like, or any combination thereof. Thewireless connection may include, for example, a Bluetooth™ link, aWi-Fi™ link, a WiMax™ link, a WLAN link, a ZigBee™ link, a mobilenetwork link (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G), or the like, or a combination thereof.In some embodiments, the communication port 240 may be and/or include astandardized communication port, such as RS232, RS485, etc. In someembodiments, the communication port 240 may be a specially designedcommunication port. For example, the communication port 240 may bedesigned in accordance with the digital imaging and communications inmedicine (DICOM) protocol.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary hardware and/orsoftware components of an exemplary mobile device 300 on which theterminals 130 may be implemented according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the mobile device 300 mayinclude a communication platform 310, a display 320, a graphicprocessing unit (GPU) 330, a central processing unit (CPU) 340, an I/O350, a memory 360, and a storage 390. In some embodiments, any othersuitable component, including but not limited to a system bus or acontroller (not shown), may also be included in the mobile device 300.In some embodiments, a mobile operating system 370 (e.g., iOS™,Android™, Windows Phone™) and one or more applications 380 may be loadedinto the memory 360 from the storage 390 in order to be executed by theCPU 340. The applications 380 may include a browser or any othersuitable mobile apps for receiving and rendering information relating toimage processing or other information from the processing engine 140.User interactions with the information stream may be achieved via theI/O 350 and provided to the processing engine 140 and/or othercomponents of the imaging system 100 via the network 120.

To implement various modules, units, and their functionalities describedin the present disclosure, computer hardware platforms may be used asthe hardware platform(s) for one or more of the elements describedherein. A computer with user interface elements may be used to implementa personal computer (PC) or any other type of work station or terminaldevice. A computer may also act as a server if appropriately programmed.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary processing engine140 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Asillustrated in FIG. 4, the processing engine 140 may include anacquisition module 410, a model generation module 420, an ROIdetermination module 430, and a transmission module 440. The processingengine 140 may be implemented on various components (e.g., the processor210 of the computing device 200 as illustrated in FIG. 2). For example,at least a portion of the processing engine 140 may be implemented on acomputing device as illustrated in FIG. 2 or a mobile device asillustrated in FIG. 3.

The acquisition module 410 may acquire data related to the imagingsystem 100. For example, the acquisition module 410 may acquireinformation related to a subject (e.g., a patient) to facilitate thesubsequent scanning on the subject. Exemplary information related to thesubject may include position information related to a body contour ofthe subject, an image of the subject indicating its position on thescanning table 114, information related to thermal distribution of thesubject, physiological data related to the subject, anatomicalinformation related to subject, an image of structured light projectedon the subject, TOF information associated with light pulses emittedtoward the subject, or the like, or any combination thereof. In someembodiments, the acquisition module 410 may acquire the informationrelated to the imaging system 100 from one or more components of theimaging system 100, such as the imaging device 110, the storage device150. Additionally or alternatively, the acquisition module 410 mayacquire the information from an external source via the network 120.

The model generation module 420 may generate a 3D model of the subjectbased on information acquired from the acquisition module 410. Forexample, the model generation module 420 may generate the 3D model basedon position information related to a body contour of the subjectmeasured by a flexible device. As another example, the model generationmodule 420 may generate the 3D model based on an image of structuredlight projected on the subject, or TOF information associated with lightpulses emitted toward the subject. In some embodiments, the modelgeneration module 420 may generate the 3D model according to a 3Dreconstruction technique, a surface fitting technique, or any othersuitable technique that can be used to generate a 3D model. Exemplary 3Dreconstruction techniques may include an algorithm based on boundarycontours, an algorithm based on non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS),an algorithm based on a triangulation model, etc. Exemplary surfacefitting techniques may include a least squares (LS) algorithm, a movingleast squares algorithm (MLS), etc.

The ROI determination module 430 may determine the position of the ROIof the subject related to the imaging device 110. The position of theROI may be determined based on a position of the ROI with respect to the3D model and the position of the subject with respect to the imagingdevice 110. In some embodiments, the position of the ROI with respect tothe 3D model may be determined based on, such as physiological data,anatomic information, thermal distribution information related to thesubject, and/or a pre-scanned image of the subject, or the like, or anycombination thereof. The position of the subject with respect to theimaging device 110 may be determined, for example, according to an imageof the subject indicating a spatial correlation between the subject andthe scanning table 114, a spatial correlation between the ROI and areference object located outside the subject.

The transmission module 440 may send information and/or an instructionto one or more components the imaging device 110. In some embodiments,the information and/or the instruction may be related to a scanningoperation on the subject. For example, the information may include theposition of the ROI with respect to the imaging device 110. Thetransmission module 440 may send an instruction to operate the imagingdevice 110 to adjust the position of the scanning table 114 to asuitable location such that only a target portion including the ROI ofthe subject may be scanned.

It should be noted that the above description is merely provided for thepurposes of illustration, and not intended to limit the scope of thepresent disclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art,multiple variations or modifications may be made under the teachings ofthe present disclosure. However, those variations and modifications donot depart from the scope of the present disclosure. In someembodiments, the processing engine 140 may include one or moreadditional modules. For example, the processing engine 140 may furtherinclude a storage module configured to store data generated by the abovementioned modules in the processing engine 140. In some embodiments, oneor more modules of the processing engine 140 described above may beomitted. For example, the transmission module 440 may be omitted.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for scanning asubject by an imaging device according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more operations ofprocess 500 illustrated in FIG. 5 may be implemented in the imagingsystem 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, at least a part of theprocess 500 illustrated in FIG. 5 may be stored in the storage device150 in the form of instructions, and invoked and/or executed by theprocessing engine 140 (e.g., the processor 210 of the computing device200 as illustrated in FIG. 2, the GPU 330 or CPU 340 of the mobiledevice 300 as illustrated in FIG. 3).

In 502, the acquisition module 410 may receive, from a flexible deviceconfigured with a plurality of position sensors, first positioninformation related to a body contour of a subject with respect to asupport. The flexible device may refer to a device that is capable ofbeing bent or deformed to generate a shape as required. For example, theflexible device may be a wearable device that can be worn by thesubject, or a blanket that can cover the subject. When being worn by orplaced on the subject, the flexible device may be configured to conformto the body contour of the subject. The support may be configured toprovide support for the subject. In some embodiments, the support may bea board, a mat, etc.

The subject may be biological or non-biological. Merely by way ofexample, the subject may include a patient, a man-made object, etc. Asanother example, the subject may include a specific portion, cells,tissues, organs or a whole body of a human or animal. For illustrationpurpose, a patient is taken as an example of the subject. The patientmay lie on the support wearing the flexible device or be covered by theflexible device and the body of the patient may occupy a specific areaon the support.

In some embodiments, the flexible device may be worn or placed on thebody of the subject or a portion of the subject (collectively referredto as the subject herein). In some embodiments, the flexible device maybe worn by or placed on the subject and cover the whole body of thesubject. Additionally or alternatively, the flexible device may be wornby or placed on the subject and cover a portion of the subject. Forexample, the flexible device may cover front body surface of the subject(i.e., the portion of body surface not contacting the support) when thesubject lies on the support. As another example, the flexible device maycover the body surface of the lower part of the subject (e.g., the legsof a patient). In some embodiments, the flexible device may include aplurality of sub-flexible devices configured to conform to differentportions of the subject. Merely by way of example, the flexible devicemay include a plurality of sub-flexible devices configured for differentparts of a patient's body (e.g., head, arm, leg). The sub-flexibledevices may have the same or different sizes and configurationsaccording to different situations.

When the flexible device is worn by or placed on the subject, theflexible device may be deformed to conform to the body contour of thesubject. The flexible device may include a plurality of positionsensors. The position sensors may be configured to collect firstposition information related to the body contour of the subject withrespect to the support. In some embodiments, the first positioninformation may include a distance measurement between each of theplurality of position sensors in the flexible device and the support.For example, the first position information may include a plurality ofdistance measurements, each of which indicates a distance between one ofthe plurality of position sensors and the support along the Y-axis asillustrated in FIG. 1. The position sensors may be close to the bodysurface of the subject when the flexible device is worn by or placed onthe subject. Accordingly, the distance between a point on the bodycontour of the subject and the support may be represented by thedistance between the position sensor corresponding to the point on thebody contour of the subject and the support. The distance measurementsbetween the plurality of position sensors and the support may then beregarded as distance measurements between the corresponding points onthe body contour of the subject and the support, respectively.

In some embodiments, the position sensors of the flexible device may beany sensor that can measure distance. Exemplary position sensors mayinclude a laser range finder, an infrared range finder, an ultrasonicrange finder, a radar range finder, a microwave range finder, anelectromagnetic range finder, or the like, or any combination thereof.In some embodiments, a position sensor may transmit and/or receive asignal (e.g., a microwave signal, an electromagnetic signal) that passesthrough the subject during distance measuring. For example, the positionsensor may transmit the signal toward the support, and support a signalreceiver mounted on the support may receive the signal. As anotherexample, a signal transmitter may be mounted on the support and transmitthe signal toward the position sensor of the flexible device. Theposition sensor and/or other components of the imaging system 100 (e.g.,the processing engine 140, or the processor 210) may determine adistance measurement between the position sensor and the support basedon the time of flight information of the signal. In some embodiments,the support may include a plurality of position sensors, and the signaltransmitter and/or the signal receiver may be integrated into theposition sensors of the support.

In some embodiments, the position sensors may determine a plurality ofdistance measurements along the Y-axis between the points on the subjectand a reference substance. The reference substance may be, for example,a plane parallel to the support and locating on an opposite side of thesubject with respect to the support. Based on the distance measurementsbetween the points on the subject and the reference substance, therelative positions between different points on the subject, as well asthe distance measurements between the points and the support may bedetermined.

In some embodiments, the position sensors of the flexible device may bearranged in an array. Each pair of adjacent position sensors may beconnected to each other via a flexible connector. In some embodiments,the flexible device may include a plurality of units arranged in anarray. Each of the plurality of units may include one or more positionsensors. Each pair of adjacent units may be connected to each other viaa flexible connector. A flexible connector may refer to a connectorconnecting two adjacent position sensors and/or units that is capable ofbeing bent or deformed without breaking. Details regarding theconfiguration of the flexible device may be found elsewhere in thepresent disclosure (e.g., FIGS. 8A to 9 and the relevant descriptionsthereof).

The subject may be supported by the support, which may provide astructural support for the subject. In some embodiments, the support maybe the scanning table 114 of the imaging device 110. In someembodiments, the support may be configured with a plurality of detectingunits to obtain information related to the subject. Exemplary detectingunits may include pressure sensors, thermal sensors, position sensors,or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, thesupport may include a plurality of position sensors configured tocollect first position information related the body contour of thesubject with respect to the support. The position sensors of the supportmay be similar to that of the flexible device, and the descriptionsthereof are not repeated.

In 504, the model generation module 420 may generate a 3D model of thesubject based on the first position information. The first positioninformation may include a plurality of distance measurements betweenpoints on the body contour of the subject and the support as describedin connection with operation 502. The model generation module 420 maygenerate the 3D model of the subject based on the distance measurementsbetween the points on the body contour and the support. In someembodiments, the 3D model may be generated based on a 3D reconstructiontechnique, a surface fitting technique, or any other suitable techniquethat can be used to generate a 3D model. Exemplary 3D reconstructiontechniques may include an algorithm based on boundary contours, analgorithm based on non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS), an algorithmbased on a triangulation model, etc. Exemplary surface fittingtechniques may include a least squares (LS) algorithm, a moving leastsquares algorithm (MLS), etc. In some embodiments, the 3D model may begenerated based on a Stereo Lithographic (STL) model. The positioninformation collected by the plurality of positions sensors in theflexible device worn by the subject may be denoted as distributed cloudpoints in a 3D space. Every three distributed cloud points may form amicro triangle grid or a micro triangle plane. The 3D model generatedbased on the STL model may include a plurality of micro triangle planesthat form the body contour of the subject. In some embodiments, themodel generation module 420 may further transmit the 3D model to aterminal 130 via the network 120 for display.

In some embodiments, the model generation module 420 may generate a 3Dcurved surface corresponding to the front body surface of the subject(i.e., the portion of body surface not contacting the subject when thesubject lies on the support). The 3D curved surface may be directly usedas the 3D model of the subject. In some embodiments, a plane or a curvedsurface may be used to represent the back portion of the surface and fitwith the reconstructed 3D curved surface to generate the 3D model of thesubject. In some embodiments, a planar body contour image of the subjecton the support may be generated and combined with the reconstructed 3Dcurve surface to generate the 3D model. Details regarding the planarbody contour image may be found elsewhere in the present disclosure(e.g., FIG. 8A and the relevant descriptions thereof).

In 506, the ROI determination module 430 may determine an ROI of thesubject based on the 3D model of the subject.

As used herein, the “determining an ROI” may refer to determine aposition of the ROI in the subject with respect to the imaging device110. The ROI may be an entire body of the subject or a portion of thesubject (e.g., one or more organs) depending on diagnostic needs. Forexample, the ROI may be an esophagus, a trachea, a bronchus, a stomach,a gallbladder, a small intestine, a colon, a bladder, a ureter, auterus, a fallopian tube, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, the position of the ROI in the subject with respectto the imaging device 110 may be determined according the relativeposition of the ROI inside the subject and second position informationof the subject with respect to the imaging device 110. The relativeposition of the ROI inside the subject may be determined based on the 3Dmodel. The second position information of the subject with respect tothe imaging device 110 may be determined based on an image of thesubject indicating the position of the subject on the support, a spatialcorrelation between the ROI and a reference object located outside thesubject (e.g., a marker installed on the scanning table 114), or thelike, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, at least part ofthe second position information may be determined based on the support.Details regarding the determination of an ROI may be found elsewhere inthe present disclosure (e.g., FIG. 6 and the relevant descriptionsthereof).

In 508, the transmission module 440 may send an instruction to theimaging device 110 to scan a target portion of the subject including theROI of the subject.

The target portion of the subject may be a region including the ROI. Forexample, if the ROI corresponds to a heart of the subject, the targetportion may be the chest of the subject including the entire heart, thelungs and a part of other tissues or vessels close to the heart. In someembodiments, the target portion to be scanned may be determined manuallyby an operator or automatically by the processing engine 140. Forexample, an operator may manually set the target portion on an imageand/or the 3D model of the subject displayed on the GUI. As anotherexample, the processing engine 140 may automatically set a targetportion based on the position of the ROI with respect to the imagingdevice 110 and information related to a scanning protocol of thesubject.

In some embodiments, the transmission module 440 may send an instructionto operate the imaging device 110 to adjust the position of the scanningtable 114 to a suitable location such that the target portion of thesubject may be scanned. The instructions may involve various parametersrelated to the movement of the scanning table 114. Exemplary parametersrelated to the movement of the scanning table 114 may include thedistance of movement, the direction of movement, the speed of movement,or the like, or a combination thereof. As another example, thetransmission module 440 may send an instruction to operate the imagingdevice 110 to adjust the position of other components of the imagingdevice 110, e.g., the radioactive scanning source 115, or othermechanical parts connected to the scanning table 114.

It should be noted that the above description regarding the process 500is merely provided for the purposes of illustration, and not intended tolimit the scope of the present disclosure. For persons having ordinaryskills in the art, multiple variations or modifications may be madeunder the teachings of the present disclosure. However, those variationsand modifications do not depart from the scope of the presentdisclosure. In some embodiments, one or more operations may be added oromitted. For example, operation 506 may be divided into multipleoperations which include determining the position of the ROI inside thesubject and the position of subject with respect to the imaging device110. In some embodiments, operation 508 may be omitted. In someembodiments, the instruction to scan the target portion may be inputtedby a user (e.g., a doctor) via a terminal (e.g., the terminal 130).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for determiningan ROI of a subject according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. In some embodiments, one or more operations of process 600illustrated in FIG. 6 may be implemented in the imaging system 100illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, at least a part of the process 600illustrated in FIG. 6 may be stored in the storage device 150 in theform of instructions, and invoked and/or executed by the processingengine 140 (e.g., the processor 210 of the computing device 200 asillustrated in FIG. 2, the GPU 330 or CPU 340 of the mobile device 300as illustrated in FIG. 3).

In 602, the ROI determination module 430 may determine a position of theROI inside the subject based on the 3D model of the subject. In someembodiments, the position of the ROI inside the subject may be manuallyset by a user of the imaging system 100. Merely by way of example, the3D model may be displayed on a terminal 130. The user may select aregion in the 3D model, and the ROI determination module 430 maydesignate the selected region as the ROI in response to the user'sselection. In some embodiments, after the user selects the region, apre-scan may be performed on the selected region to generate apre-scanned image of the selected region. The ROI determination module430 may further determine the position of the ROI inside the subjectbased on the pre-scanned image.

In some embodiments, the ROI determination module 430 may determine theposition of the ROI inside the subject based on information associatedwith thermal distribution of the subject. The temperatures of differentorgans in the subject may be different and lead to different levels ofthermal radiations. The position of the ROI may be determined based onthe information associated with thermal distribution of the subject.Details regarding the determination of the ROI based on informationassociated with thermal distribution of the subject may be foundelsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., FIG. 7A and the relevantdescriptions thereof). In some embodiments, the ROI determination module430 may determine the position of the ROI inside the subject based onphysiological data and anatomical information related to the subject.Details regarding the determination of the ROI based on physiologicaldata and anatomical information related to the subject may be foundelsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., FIG. 7B and the relevantdescriptions thereof).

In 604, the ROI determination module 430 may acquire second positioninformation of the subject respect to the imaging device 110.

In some embodiments, the second position information of the subject withrespect to the imaging device 110 may be determined according to animage of the subject indicating a spatial correlation between thesubject and the scanning table 114. For example, an image acquisitiondevice (e.g., a camera) may be mounted on the gantry 111 of an imagingdevice 110 to record the position of the subject with respect to thescanning table 114. As another example, the support may be the scanningtable 114 or be placed at a specific position on the scanning table 114.The support may include a plurality of pressure sensors configured tomeasure the pressure values generated by the subject on different partsof the support. The processing engine 140 may further generate a planarimage of the body contour of the subject on the support based on thepressure values, which may further indicate the spatial correlationbetween the subject and the scanning table 114. In some embodiments, theposition of the ROI in the subject with respect to the imaging device110 may be determined according to the spatial correlation between theROI and a reference object located outside the subject (e.g., a markerinstalled on the scanning table 114). Exemplary techniques fordetermining a position of a subject with respect to an imaging device110 may be found in, for example, International Application No.PCT/CN2017/119896, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PATIENTPOSITIONING” filed on even date of the present application, the contentsof which are hereby incorporated by reference.

In 606, the ROI determination module 430 may determine the ROI of thesubject based on the position of the ROI inside the subject and thesecond position information of the subject with respect to the imagingdevice 110. After the position of the ROI inside the subject and theposition of the subject with respect to the imaging device 110 aredetermined, the ROI determination module 430 may determine the positionof the ROI with respect to the imaging device 110 accordingly.

FIG. 7A is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for determininga position of an ROI inside a subject based on thermal distributioninformation according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Insome embodiments, one or more operations of process 700A illustrated inFIG. 7A may be implemented in the imaging system 100 illustrated inFIG. 1. For example, at least a part of the process 700A illustrated inFIG. 7A may be stored in the storage device 150 in the form ofinstructions, and invoked and/or executed by the processing engine 140(e.g., the processor 210 of the computing device 200 as illustrated inFIG. 2, the GPU 330 or CPU 340 of the mobile device 300 as illustratedin FIG. 3).

In 702, the ROI determination module 430 may acquire informationassociated with thermal distribution of the subject.

In some embodiments, the information associated with the thermaldistribution of the subject may be acquired by using an infraredthermography technique. An object with a temperature above absolute zeromay emit infrared radiations. The amount of infrared radiations emittedby the object may increase with the temperature of the object. Differentorgans or regions of a human/animal body may have differenttemperatures, and thus may emit different amounts of infraredradiations. In some embodiments, the flexible device and/or the supportmay include a plurality of thermal sensors. The plurality of thermalsensors may measure infrared radiations emitted from different portionsof the subject. The processing engine 140 may further generate aninfrared thermal distribution image (also referred to as an infraredthermogram) based on the infrared radiations measured by the thermalsensors. The thermal distribution image may illustrate the thermaldistribution of the subject by using different colors to representregions with different temperatures.

In some embodiments, information associated with the thermaldistribution of the subject may be acquired by a thermal imaging device,such as an infrared imaging device. The thermal imaging device maydetect thermal radiations from the subject, and determine the heatdistribution on the surface of the subject based on the thermalradiations. The thermal imaging device may further employ athermoelectric analogy technique to determine one or more heat sources(e.g., the one or more organs) of the subject based on the heatdistribution on the surface of the subject. For example, the thermalimaging device may determine the thermal radiation level, the depth, theposition, and/or the shape of each of the one or more heat sources(e.g., the one or more organs) beneath the surface of the subject. Insome embodiments, the thermal imaging device may generate an infraredthermal distribution image of the subject based on the detected thermalradiations.

In 704, the ROI determination module 430 may determine the position ofthe ROI inside the subject based on the 3D model of the subject and theinformation associated with the thermal distribution of the subject. Forexample, the infrared thermal distribution image of the subject mayindicate the locations of different organs or tissues with differenttemperatures. The ROI determination module 430 may determine theposition of the ROI with respect to the 3D model of the subject based onthe infrared thermal distribution image.

FIG. 7B is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for determininga position of an ROI inside a subject based on physiological data andanatomical information according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. In some embodiments, one or more operations of process 700Billustrated in FIG. 7B may be implemented in the imaging system 100illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, at least a part of the process 700Billustrated in FIG. 7B may be stored in the storage device 150 in theform of instructions, and invoked and/or executed by the processingengine 140 (e.g., the processor 210 of the computing device 200 asillustrated in FIG. 2, the GPU 330 or CPU 340 of the mobile device 300as illustrated in FIG. 3).

In 706, the ROI determination module 430 may acquire physiological datarelated to the subject.

The physiological data may include a weight, a height, a body mass index(BMI), a body fat percentage, or the like, or any combination thereof.In some embodiments, the physiological data may be historical dataretrieved from a storage device (e.g., the storage device 150).Additionally or alternatively, the physiological data may be measuredbefore or during the medical examination using a measurement instrumentof physiological data.

In some embodiments, at least part of the physiological data may beacquired from the support. Merely by way of example, the support mayinclude a plurality of pressure sensors configured to measure pressurevalues of the subject. The weight of the subject may be determined basedon the total amount of pressure values detected by the pressure sensors.As another example, when the pressure sensors are arranged in a pointarray, the height of the subject may be determined based on thelocations of the pressure sensors on the support. The BMI may becalculated by dividing the weight by the square of the height.

In some embodiments, at least part of the physiological data may bedetermined based on the 3D model. For example, the ROI determinationmodule 430 may determine physiological data related to the subject basedon the 3D model. Exemplary physiological data determined based on the 3Dmodel may include a height, a volume, a thickness, a width of thesubject or a portion thereof (e.g., a leg).

In 708, the ROI determination module 430 may acquire anatomicalinformation associated with the subject.

The anatomical information associated with the subject may include anyinformation indicating the physiological structure of the subject. Forexample, the anatomical information may indicate the position, theshape, the volume, the size of one or more organs and/or tissues of thesubject. In some embodiments, the anatomical information may be acquiredaccording to history data related the subject. For example, theanatomical information may be a historical medical image (e.g., a CTimage, an MRI image) of the subject including anatomical information.Additionally or alternatively, the anatomical information may beacquired from anatomical information of reference samples relate to thesubject. The locations of different organs (e.g., a heart, a lung, etc.)and tissue (e.g., a bone, an aorta, etc.) may be similar betweenindividuals, and may be affected by physiological data such as theweight, the height, the body type, etc. A reference sample related tothe subject may refer to a sample (e.g., a person) having a similarcharacteristic to the subject (e.g., a similar height or weight). Forexample, the ROI determination module 430 may acquire anatomicalinformation associated with the subject according to anatomicalinformation (e.g., medical images) of other persons having a similarcharacteristic to the subject (e.g., a similar height or weight).

In some embodiments, the anatomical information associated with thesubject may be stored in a storage device (e.g., the storage device150). The ROI determination module 430 may access the storage device andretrieve the anatomical information associated with the subject.Additionally or alternatively, the ROI determination module 430 mayobtain the anatomical information associated with the subject fromexternal sources (e.g., a database of a hospital or medical institution)via the network 120.

In 710, the ROI determination module 430 may determine the position ofthe ROI inside the subject based on the 3D model of the subject, thephysiological data, and anatomical information associated with thesubject. In some embodiments, the ROI determination module 430 maydetermine the position of the ROI with respect to the 3D model of thesubject based the physiological data, and the anatomical informationaccording to a morphological method.

It should be noted that the above description regarding the process 700Aand process 700B is merely provided for the purposes of illustration,and not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Forpersons having ordinary skills in the art, multiple variations ormodifications may be made under the teachings of the present disclosure.However, those variations and modifications do not depart from the scopeof the present disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more operationsmay be added or omitted. For example, the operation 706 may be omitted.The ROI determination module 430 may determine the position of the ROIinside the subject based on the 3D model and the anatomical informationassociated with the subject. Merely by way of example, the position ofthe ROI inside the subject may be determined based on the 3D model and ahistorical medical image of the subject or historical medical images ofother samples. In some embodiments, the ROI determination module 430 maydetermine the position of the ROI inside the subject based on thethermal distribution information and/or the anatomical informationwithout the 3D model. For example, the ROI determination module 430 maydetermine the position of the ROI inside the subject directly based on athermal distribution image of the subject.

FIGS. 8A to 8C are schematic diagrams illustrating an exemplary imagingsystem 800 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Asshown, the imaging system 800 may include an imaging device 110, aflexible device 820, and a support 830. The imaging device 110 mayinclude a gantry 111 and a scanning table 114. In some embodiments, theimaging system 800 may further include one or more same or similarcomponents as the imaging system 100.

As shown in FIG. 8A, a subject 810 may wear or be covered by a flexibledevice 820 and lie on the support 830. The support 830 may be placed onthe scanning table 114. In some embodiments, the scanning table 114 mayfurther include a table top and a sliding rail. During a scan, theimaging device 110 may adjust the position of the subject 810 by movingthe table top through the sliding rail.

The flexible device 820 may conform to the body contour of the subject810 and be used to determine the body contour of the subject 810. Theflexible device 820 may include a plurality of position sensorsconfigured to collect first position information related to the bodycontour of the subject 810 with respect to the support 830. In someembodiment, the flexible device 820 may be removed from the subjectbefore a medical scan.

The support 830 may provide a structural support for the subject 810. Insome embodiments, the support 830 may be configured with a plurality ofsensors to collect information related to the subject 810. Exemplarysensors may include pressure sensors, thermal sensors, position sensors,or the like, or any combination thereof. Exemplary information collectedby the support 830 may include weight, height, a plurality of distancemeasurements between the body contour of the subject 810 and the support830, position information of the subject 810 with respect to the support830, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, a plurality of pressure sensors may be arranged onthe support 830 to detect pressure values generated by the subject 810.The processing engine 140 may generate a planar body contour image ofthe subject 810 on the support 830 based on the pressure values. Theplanar body contour image of the subject 810 on the support 830 mayindicate the position information of the subject 810 with respect to thesupport 830. In some embodiments, the support 830 may be the scanningtable 114 or be placed at a specific position on the scanning table 114.The position information of the subject 810 with respect to the scanningtable 114 may then be determined based on the position information ofthe subject 810 with respect to the support 830.

In some embodiments, the planar body contour image of the subject 810 onthe support 830 may be combined with the first position informationincluding a plurality of distance measurements between the body contourand the support 830 to generate the 3D model of the subject 810. Forexample, a 3D curved surface corresponding to the front body surface ofthe subject (i.e., the portion of body surface not contacting thesubject when the subject lies on a scanning table) may be generatedbased on the first position information. The planar body contour imagemay be used to represent the back portion of the subject and fit withthe 3D curved surface to generate the 3D model of the subject.

In some embodiments, as illustrated in FIG. 8B, the flexible device 820may include a plurality of units 840. The plurality of units 840 may bearranged, for example, in a dot array. Each of the plurality of units840 may include one or more sensors, for example, position sensors,thermal sensors, etc. A unit 840 may be connected to one or more units840 via one or more flexible connectors. Thus the flexible device 820may be deformed to conform to the body shape of the subject 810. In someembodiments, a unit 840 may include one or more protective layerscovering the one or more sensors of the unit 840. Detailed informationregarding a structure of the flexible device 820 may be found in FIG. 9and the descriptions thereof.

In some embodiments, the imaging system 800 may include one or more sameor similar components as the imaging system 100, such as one or moreterminals 130 and a processing engine 140. The flexible device 820 maybe connected to and/or communicated with one or more other components ofthe imaging system 800 via a wired connection or a wireless connection(e.g., a network), or a combination thereof. For example, as illustratedin FIG. 8C, the flexible device 820 may be may be connected to and/orcommunicated with the terminal 130 and the processing engine 140. Theflexible device 820 may transmit detected information associated withthe subject (e.g., distance information between the body contour of thesubject 810 and the support 830, infrared radiations emitted by thesubject 810, etc.) to the processing engine 140. The processing engine140 may process the information received from the flexible device 820.For example, the processing engine 140 may generate a 3D model and/or aninfrared thermal distribution image of the subject 810.

In some embodiments, the flexible device 820 and/or the processingengine 140 may further transmit the information or the processedinformation to the terminal 130 for display. An operator may view theinformation and/or the processed information via the interface of theterminal 130. Additionally or alternatively, the operator may also inputdata and/or instructions to the processing engine 140 and/or theflexible device 820 via the terminal 130. For example, the operator mayinstruct the flexible device 820 to collect information related to thesubject 810. As another example, the operator may instruct theprocessing engine 140 to generate the 3D model of the subject 810 basedon the information collected by the flexible device 820.

In some embodiments, the support 830 may also be connected to and/orcommunicated with one or more other components of the imaging system800. The connection between the support 830 and the other components maybe similar to that of the flexible device 820, and the descriptionsthereof are not repeated.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary flexible device820 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

The flexible device 820 may include a plurality of units arranged in adot array. Each unit may include one or more position sensors. Each pairof adjacent units of the plurality of units may be connected to eachother via a flexible connector. In some embodiments, different units ofthe flexible device 820 may have a same or different configurations. Forexample, each unit of the flexible device 820 may have the same size. Asanother example, different units may have different sizes and differentnumbers of position sensors configured with respect to differentportions of the subject. In some embodiments, the flexible device 820may be detachable and/or collapsible. For example, one or more flexibleconnectors of the flexible device 820 may be opened or removed, and theflexible device 820 may be disassembled to a plurality of sub-parts.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, the flexible device 820 may include aplurality of units. For illustration purposes, the configuration andarrangement of a unit 840A and a unit 840B are described as an example.The unit 840A and the unit 840B may be connected to each other by aflexible connector 930. The flexible connector 930 may be capable ofbeing bent or deformed without breaking. The relative position betweenthe unit 840A and the unit 840B may change via the flexible connector930 to conform to the body contour of the subject. For example, theangel between the unit 840A and the unit 840B may change so that theflexible device 820 may better fit the body contour of the subject. Insome embodiments, the unit 840A and the unit 840B may be detachable by,such as opening or removing the flexible connector 930. In someembodiments, the flexible connector 930 may include a plurality offlexible fibers. The flexible connector 930 may be made of any flexiblematerial, such as a composite of fiber and soft rubber, a biology fibermaterial, or the like, or any combination thereof.

The unit 840A may include one or more sensors 940, a first layer 910,and a second layer 920. The unit 840A may also include one or morethermal sensors (not shown). The position sensor(s) 940 may besandwiched between the first layer 910 and the second layer 920 asillustrated in FIG. 9. The first layer 910 and the second layer 920 mayprovide structural support and protection for the sensor(s) 940, andmake the flexible device 820 more comfortable to subject 810. In someembodiments, the first layer 910 and the second layer 920 may be made ofmaterials such as an artificial fiber, a plant fiber, etc. Theconstitution of the first layer 910 and the second layer 920 may or maynot be the same. The unit 840B may have the same or similarconfiguration as the unit 840A, and the descriptions thereof are notrepeated.

It should be noted that the examples illustrated in FIG. 8A to FIG. 9and the above descriptions thereof are merely provided for the purposesof illustration, and not intended to limit the scope of the presentdisclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art, multiplevariations or modifications may be made under the teachings of thepresent disclosure. However, those variations and modifications do notdepart from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, theflexible device 820 may be configured in any shape and size. As anotherexample, the position sensor(s) 940 of the unit 840A may be covered byone of the first layer 910 and the second layer 920. As yet anotherexample, the position sensor(s) 940 may be covered by more than twolayers on the upper side, the bottom side, or both sides.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for scanning asubject by an imaging device according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more operations ofprocess 1000 illustrated in FIG. 10 may be implemented in the imagingsystem 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, at least a part of theprocess 1000 illustrated in FIG. 10 may be stored in the storage device150 in the form of instructions, and invoked and/or executed by theprocessing engine 140 (e.g., the processor 210 of the computing device200 as illustrated in FIG. 2, the GPU 330 or CPU 340 of the mobiledevice 300 as illustrated in FIG. 3).

In 1002, the acquisition module 410 may receive an image of structuredlight projected by a projector on a subject.

The structured light may refer to light that has a certain patternprojected to the subject. The structured light may include a structuredlight spot, a structured light stripe, a structured light grid, or thelike. The structured light may be visible or invisible. The visiblestructured light may have a visually distinguishable color, for example,red, green, etc. Exemplary invisible structured light may includeinfrared light.

The structured light may be projected on the subject by a projector. Theimage of the structured light on the subject may be captured by animaging acquisition device from other perspectives than the projector.The imaging acquisition device may be and/or include any suitable devicecapable of acquiring image data under the structured light. Exemplaryimaging acquisition devices may include a digital camera, a videorecorder, a mobile phone, an infrared camera, or the like. When thestructured light is projected on the subject with a shaped body surface,the structured light may be distorted due to the shaped body surface.The image of the structured light projected on the subject may be usedfor a geometric reconstruction of the body surface shape of subject.

In some embodiments, the projector may project the structured light onthe subject from different perspectives. For example, the projector mayproject the structured light on the subject at a plurality of positions.The imaging acquisition device may capture a plurality of images of thestructured light projected on the subject when the projector projectsthe structured light on the subject at different positions. Additionallyor alternatively, the imaging acquisition device may capture a pluralityof images of the structured light projected on the subject fromdifferent perspectives, or a plurality of imaging acquisition devicesmay be configured at different positions with respect to the subject tocapture a plurality of images from different perspectives.

In some embodiments, the structured light projected by the projector maycover the entire body of the subject. The projector may be configured ata fixed position to project the structured light on the subject.Alternatively, the structured light may cover a portion of the body ofthe subject. The projector may be moved to different positions toproject the subject. Details regarding the movable projector may befound elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., FIG. 12 and therelevant descriptions thereof).

In 1004, the model generation module 420 may generate a 3D model of thesubject based on the image(s) of the structured light projected on thesubject.

In some embodiments, the structured light projected on the subject maybe considered as a plurality of light spots. The model generation module420 may determine a coordinate of a light spot based on the image(s) ofthe structured light projected on the subject and a geometricrelationship among the projector, the imaging acquisition device and thelight spot. A light spot with a determined coordinate may be consideredas a point on the body contour of the subject. The model generationmodule 420 may generate a 3D curved surface of the body contour of thesubject based on a plurality of points with determined coordinatesaccording to a 3D reconstruction algorithm. Exemplary 3D reconstructionalgorithms may include an algorithm based on boundary contours, analgorithm based on non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS), an algorithmbased on a triangulation model, etc.

In some embodiments, the model generation module 420 may generate the 3Dmodel based on a phase method. For example, the model generation module420 may determine information related to phase shifts based on the imageof the structured light projected on the subject. The modeldetermination module 420 may then determine depth information related tothe body contour of the subject based on the information related tophase shifts, and use a surface fitting algorithm to generate the 3Dcurved surface based on the depth information. Exemplary surface fittingalgorithm may include a least squares (LS) algorithm, a moving leastsquares algorithm (MLS), etc. It should be noted that the abovedescriptions are merely provided for the purposes of illustration. Themodel generation module 420 may adopt any other suitable technique togenerate the 3D model based on the image of the structured light.

In some embodiments, the model generation module 420 may generate a 3Dcurved surface corresponding to the front body surface of the subject(i.e., the portion of body surface not contacting the subject when thesubject lies on a scanning table). The 3D curved surface may be directlyused as the 3D model of the subject. In some embodiments, a plane or acurved surface may be used to represent the back portion of the surfaceand fit with the reconstructed 3D curved surface to generate the 3Dmodel of the subject. In some embodiments, a planar body contour imageof the subject on a support (e.g., the support 830) or a scanning table114 may be generated and combined with the reconstructed 3D curvesurface to generate the 3D model. Details regarding the planar bodycontour image may be found elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g.,FIG. 8A and the relevant descriptions thereof).

In 1006, the ROI determination module 430 may determine an ROI of thesubject based on the 3D model of the subject. In some embodiments, theROI determination module 430 may determine the position of the ROI withrespect to the imaging device 110 based on the position of the ROIinside the subject and second position information related to thesubject with respect to the imaging device 110.

In 1008, the transmission module 440 may send an instruction to animaging device to scan a target portion of the subject including the ROIof the subject. In some embodiments, the target portion of the subjectmay be a region including the ROI. The transmission module 440 may sendan instruction to operate the imaging device 110 to adjust the positionof the scanning table 114 to a suitable location such that only thetarget portion of the subject may be scanned.

Operations 1006 and 1008 may be performed in a similar manner tooperations 506 and 508 respectively, and the descriptions thereof arenot repeated here. In some embodiments, operation 1008 may be omitted.In some embodiments, the instruction to scan the target portion may beinputted by a user (e.g., a doctor) via a terminal (e.g., the terminal130).

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for scanning asubject by an imaging device according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more operations ofprocess 1100 illustrated in FIG. 11 for scanning a subject may beimplemented in the imaging system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. Forexample, at least a part of the process 1100 illustrated in FIG. 11 maybe stored in the storage device 150 in the form of instructions, andinvoked and/or executed by the processing engine 140 (e.g., theprocessor 210 of the computing device 200 as illustrated in FIG. 2, theGPU 330 or CPU 340 of the mobile device 300 as illustrated in FIG. 3).

In 1102, the acquisition module 410 may receive distance informationfrom a body contour of a subject to a light pulse generator. Thedistance information may be determined based on time of flight (TOF)information associated with light pulses emitted by the light pulsegenerator toward the subject.

In some embodiments, a light pulse generator may be configured to emitlight pulses continuously on the body surface of the subject. The lightpulse generator may be a laser tube, a light emitting diode (LED), alaser diode, or the like. In some embodiments, the light pulses emittedby the light pulse generator may have a specified characteristic (e.g.,wavelength, pulse repetition rate (frequency), pulse width). Forexample, the frequency of the light pulses emitted by the light pulsegenerator may be equal to or greater than 100 MHz. The characteristicsof the light pulses emitted by the light pulse generator may be defaultsettings of the imaging system 100 or be set manually by a user via,such as a terminal 130. In some embodiments, the light pulse generatormay be moving to emit light pulses on a desired region of the bodysurface of the subject, for example, to the entire body surface of thesubject.

The light pulses may be reflected by the body surface of the subject anddetected by a light pulse sensor. The light pulse sensor may be able todetect light pulse with the same or substantially same characteristic asthat emitted by the light pulse generator. In some embodiments, aplurality of light pulse sensors may be configured detect reflectedlight pulses. The TOF information associated with each of the lightpulse(s) may be collected and be used to determine the distance betweenthe body contour and the light pulse. The TOF information related to alight pulse may refer to the time period between a time point when thelight pulse is emitted from the light pulse generator and a time pointwhen the reflected light pulse of the light pulse is detected by a lightpulse sensor. In some embodiments, the TOF information may be recordedby a timer or be determined by, such as the processing engine 140, orthe processor 210 based on a phase-shift technique.

The distance information from the body contour to the light pulsegenerator may then be determined based on the TOF information and thevelocity of light. The distance information may include distancemeasurements between the points on the body contour of the subject andthe light pulse generator. In some embodiments, the distance informationfrom the body contour of the subject to the light pulse generator may bedetermined by one or more components in the imaging system 100, such asthe processing engine 140 and transmitted to a storage device (e.g., thestorage device 150) for storage. The acquisition module 410 may accessand retrieve the distance information from the storage device.

In 1104, the model generation module 420 may generate a 3D model of thesubject based on the distance information. In some embodiments, themodel generation module 420 may obtain the location information (e.g.,the coordinates) of the light pulse generator and the light pulse sensorthat detects the light pulse. The location information (e.g., thecoordinates) of one or more points on the body surface that reflect thelight pulse may be determined based on the distance information and thecorresponding coordinates of the light pulse generator and the lightpulse sensor. The 3D model of the subject may be generated using similarmethods described in operation 1004.

In 1106, the ROI determination module 430 may determine an ROI of thesubject based on the 3D model of the subject.

In 1108, the transmission module 440 may send instruction to an imagingdevice to scan a target portion of the subject including the ROI of thesubject.

Operations 1106 and 1108 may be performed in a similar manner tooperations 506 and 508 respectively, and the descriptions thereof arenot repeated here. In some embodiments, operation 1108 may be omitted.In some embodiments, the instruction to scan the target portion may beinputted by a user (e.g., a doctor) via a terminal (e.g., the terminal130).

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary imaging system1200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In someembodiments, at least part of the process 500, at least part of theprocess 1000, and/or at least part of the process 1100 may beimplemented on the imaging system 1200.

As illustrated in FIG. 12, the imaging system 1200 may include one ormore same or similar components as the imaging system 100, such as theimaging device 110, a terminal 130, and a processing engine 140. Theimaging device 110 may include an information acquisition component1210. The information acquisition component 1210 may be configured toacquire information of a subject. For example, the informationacquisition component 1210 may include a projector configured to projectstructured light on the subject. A camera may be configured to capturean image of the structured light projected on the subject, and the imagemay be used to generate the 3D model of the subject as described inconnection with FIG. 10.

As another example, the information acquisition component 1210 mayinclude a light pulse generator and/or a light pulse sensor. TOFinformation associated with light pulses emitted by the light pulsegenerator on the subject may be used to generate the 3D model of thesubject as described in connection with FIG. 11. As yet another example,the information acquisition component 1210 may include or be an imagingacquisition device (e.g., a camera) configured to acquire one or moreimages of the subject. In some embodiments, the information acquisitioncomponent 1210 may be a camera capturing an image including positioninformation of the subject with respect to the imaging device 110,and/or an image of structured light projected on the subject. In someembodiments, the information acquisition component 1210 may be aninfrared camera configured to collect information associated with thethermal distribution of the subject.

In some embodiments, the information acquisition component 1210 may moveto different positions to acquire information regarding the subject fromdifferent perspectives. For example, the information acquisitioncomponent 1210 may move from the start location to the end location asillustrated in FIG. 12. In some embodiments, the information acquisitioncomponent 1210 may move in different directions, for example, along theX axis, the Y axis, or the Z axis as illustrated in FIG. 1. The movementof the information acquisition component 1210 may be controlled by auser manually or by the processing engine 140 automatically.

The information acquisition component 1210 may be connected to and/orcommunicated with one or more other components of the imaging system1200 via a wired connection or a wireless connection (e.g., a network),or a combination thereof. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 12, theinformation acquisition component 1210 may be connected to and/orcommunicated with the terminal 130 and the processing engine 140. Theconnection and/or communication between the information acquisitioncomponent 1210, the terminal 130, and/or the processing engine 140 maybe similar to that between the flexible device 820, the terminal 130,and/or the processing engine 140, and the descriptions thereof are notrepeated.

FIGS. 13A to 13E are schematic diagrams illustrating an exemplaryimaging device 1300 according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

In some embodiments, the imaging device 1300 may be an exemplaryembodiment of the imaging device 110.

The imaging device 1300 may include an information acquisition component1210 as described in connection with FIG. 12. The informationacquisition component 1210 may be configured to collection informationwith respect to the subject to be scanned. The information acquisitioncomponent 1210 may include, for example, a projector, an imageacquisition device (e.g., a digital camera, an infrared camera), a lightpulse generator, a light pulse sensor, or the like, or any combinationthereof.

The information acquisition component 1210 may be mounted on the gantry111. The position and/or the configuration of the informationacquisition component 1210 may be adjusted according to differentsituations by, for example, a user, the processing engine 140, or thelike, or any combination thereof. For example, as illustrated in FIG.13A, the information acquisition component 1210 may be retracted in thegantry 111 or a container mounted on the gantry 111 when not in use.This may provide protection for the information acquisition component1210 against dust and provide a concise appearance for the imagingdevice 1300. When in use, the information acquisition component 1210 maybe extended from the gantry 111 or the container to acquire informationrelated to a portion of the subject or the entire subject.

In some embodiments, as illustrated in FIG. 13B, the position of theinformation acquisition component 1210 may be controlled via anextendable pole 1310. The length of the extendable pole 1310 may beadjusted, such that the information acquisition component 1210 mayacquire information related to the subject from different views. Forexample, the information acquisition component 1210 may collectinformation at different positions 1311, 1312, 1313, and 1314 when theextendable pole 1310 is at different extension lengths. The extendablepole 1310 is about to extend from the gantry 111 at the position 1311,and is fully extended at the position 1314. In some embodiments, duringthe movement driven by the extendable pole 1310, the informationacquisition component 1210 may continuously or periodically acquireinformation related to the subject. For example, the informationacquisition component 1210 may continuously capture images of thesubject when it moves from the position 1311 to the position 1314.

FIG. 13C illustrates an enlarged view of the information acquisitioncomponent 1210 at the position 1311. In some embodiments, the imagingdevice 1300 may further include a lid 1320. The lid 1320 may beconfigured to cover the information acquisition component 1210 when itis at a fully retracted position inside the gantry 111 or the containermounted on the gantry 111 as illustrated in FIG. 13A. When theextendable pole 1310 and the information acquisition component 1210 areabout to extend from the gantry 111, the lid 1320 may be lifted to allowthe extension of the extendable pole 1310 as illustrated in FIG. 13C.

FIGS. 13D and 13E illustrate a front view and a top view of the imagingdevice 1300 when the information acquisition component 1210 is in use.As illustrated in FIG. 13E, the information acquisition component 1210may include a plurality of sub-components, for example, 1210-1, 1210-2,and 1210-3. Each of the sub-components may be configured to acquireinformation associated with the subject from its perspective. Differentsub-components may be of the same kind or different kinds of device.Different sub-components may collect the same kind or different kinds ofinformation associated with the subject. In some embodiments, thesub-components may be arranged in an arc as illustrated in FIG. 13D soas to better collect information associated with the side body of thesubject.

For example, the information acquisition component 1210 may include aplurality of cameras configured to capture the images of the structuredlight projected on the subject. The use of more than one camera mayeliminate the image distortion, thus improving the quality of thecaptured images and increasing the speed of generating a 3D model of thesubject. As another example, the information acquisition component 1210may include a plurality of light pulse generators configured to emit thelight pulses toward the subject. The sub-components 1210-1, 1210-2, and1210-3 may be arranged in an arc from the view of FIG. 13D so that thelight pulses may cover the side body of the subject.

It should be noted that the examples illustrated in FIGS. 13A to 13E andthe descriptions thereof are merely provided for the purposes ofillustration, and not intended to limit the scope of the presentdisclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art, multiplevariations or modifications may be made under the teachings of thepresent disclosure. However, those variations and modifications do notdepart from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, theinformation acquisition component 1210 may be mounted at any position atthe gantry 111, and/or be controlled by any suitable device other thanthe extendable pole 1310. As another example, the informationacquisition component 1210 may include any number of sub-components. Thesub-component(s) of the information acquisition component 1210 may bearranged in any suitable manner to provide different applications.

FIGS. 14A to 14B are schematic diagrams illustrating an exemplaryimaging device 1400 according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 14C illustrates exemplary images of a subject generatedbased on information acquisition components of the imaging device 1400according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The imagingdevice 1400 may be similar to the imaging device 1300 as described inFIGS. 13A to 13E, except for certain components or features.

As illustrated in FIGS. 14A and 14B, the imaging device 1400 may includea plurality of information acquisition components 1210, that is, 1210-4,1210-5, 1210-6, 1210-7, and 1210-8. The plurality of informationacquisition components 1210 may be configured at different positions atthe gantry 111 to acquire information related to the subject fromdifferent perspectives. Merely by way of example, as illustrated in FIG.14C, the information acquisition components 1210 may capture images(e.g., images 1401 to 1405) of the subject from different obliqueangles. The model generation module 420 may generate a top view image1410 of the subject based on the plurality of images 1401 to 1405 by,for example, using a matrix transformation technique. Additionally oralternatively, the model generation module 420 may further generate aside view image 1420 of the subject based on body thickness informationof the subject.

In some embodiments, the information collected by the informationacquisition components 1210 may further be used to generate a 3D modelof the subject by implementing the process 1000 and/or the process 1100.In some embodiments, during an imaging process, the scanning table 114may be moved along the X, Y and Z directions as illustrated in FIG. 1 toposition the subject. The information acquisition components 1210 mayacquire information related to the subject continuously or periodicallyduring the movement of the scanning table 114. The 3D model of thesubject may be generated and/or updated continuously or periodically,and the position of the ROI may be determined accordingly.

It should be noted that the example illustrated in FIGS. 14A to 14C andthe above descriptions thereof are merely provided for the purposes ofillustration, and not intended to limit the scope of the presentdisclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art, multiplevariations or modifications may be made under the teachings of thepresent disclosure. However, those variations and modifications do notdepart from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, theimaging device 1400 may include any number of information acquisitioncomponents 1210. The information acquisition component(s) 1210 may bearranged in any suitable manner to provide different applications. Insome embodiments, similar to the information acquisition component 1210of the imaging device 1300, one or more information acquisitioncomponents 1210 of the imaging device 1400 may be retracted in and/orextended from the gantry 111 or a container mounted on the gantry 111.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes andmodifications can be made in the present disclosure without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the disclosure. In this manner, the presentdisclosure may be intended to include such modifications and variationsif the modifications and variations of the present disclosure are withinthe scope of the appended claims and the equivalents thereof.

Having thus described the basic concepts, it may be rather apparent tothose skilled in the art after reading this detailed disclosure that theforegoing detailed disclosure is intended to be presented by way ofexample only and is not limiting. Various alterations, improvements, andmodifications may occur and are intended to those skilled in the art,though not expressly stated herein. These alterations, improvements, andmodifications are intended to be suggested by this disclosure, and arewithin the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of thisdisclosure.

Moreover, certain terminology has been used to describe embodiments ofthe present disclosure. For example, the terms “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” and “some embodiments” mean that a particular feature,structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentis included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.Therefore, it is emphasized and should be appreciated that two or morereferences to “an embodiment” or “one embodiment” or “an alternativeembodiment” in various portions of this specification are notnecessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, theparticular features, structures or characteristics may be combined assuitable in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

Further, it will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects ofthe present disclosure may be illustrated and described herein in any ofa number of patentable classes or context including any new and usefulprocess, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new anduseful improvement thereof. Accordingly, aspects of the presentdisclosure may be implemented entirely hardware, entirely software(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or combiningsoftware and hardware implementation that may all generally be referredto herein as a “module,” “unit,” “component,” “device,” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readable mediahaving computer readable program code embodied thereon.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including electro-magnetic, optical, or thelike, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signalmedium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computerreadable storage medium and that may communicate, propagate, ortransport a program for use by or in connection with an instructionexecution system, apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on acomputer readable signal medium may be transmitted using any appropriatemedium, including wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, or thelike, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent disclosure may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Scala, Smalltalk, Eiffel, JADE, Emerald, C++, C #, VB.NET, Python or the like, conventional procedural programming languages,such as the “C” programming language, Visual Basic, Fortran 2003, Perl,COBOL 2002, PHP, ABAP, dynamic programming languages such as Python,Ruby and Groovy, or other programming languages. The program code mayexecute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer,as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer andpartly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer orserver. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected tothe user's computer through any type of network, including a local areanetwork (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may bemade to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using anInternet Service Provider) or in a cloud computing environment oroffered as a service such as a Software as a Service (SaaS).

Furthermore, the recited order of processing elements or sequences, orthe use of numbers, letters, or other designations therefore, is notintended to limit the claimed processes and methods to any order exceptas may be specified in the claims. Although the above disclosurediscusses through various examples what is currently considered to be avariety of useful embodiments of the disclosure, it is to be understoodthat such detail is solely for that purpose, and that the appendedclaims are not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on thecontrary, are intended to cover modifications and equivalentarrangements that are within the spirit and scope of the disclosedembodiments. For example, although the implementation of variouscomponents described above may be embodied in a hardware device, it mayalso be implemented as a software only solution, e.g., an installationon an existing server or mobile device.

Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the foregoing description ofembodiments of the present disclosure, various features are sometimesgrouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereoffor the purpose of streamlining the disclosure aiding in theunderstanding of one or more of the various embodiments. This method ofdisclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intentionthat the claimed subject matter requires more features than areexpressly recited in each claim. Rather, claim subject matter lie inless than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for determining a region of interest(ROI) in medical imaging using in an imaging device, comprising: astorage device storing a set of instructions; and at least one processorin communication with the storage device, wherein when executing the setof instructions, the at least one processor is configured to cause thesystem to: receive, from a flexible device configured with a pluralityof position sensors, first position information related to a bodycontour of a subject with respect to a support that is independent fromthe flexible device, the flexible device being worn by the subject andconfigured to conform to the body contour of the subject, the supportbeing configured to support the subject, the subject being placedbetween the support and the flexible device, and the first positioninformation including a plurality of distance measurements, wherein eachof the plurality of distance measurements represents a distance betweencorresponding one of the plurality of position sensors and the support;generate, based on the first position information, a 3-dimensional (3D)model of the subject; and determine, based on the 3D model of thesubject, an ROI of the subject.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein: theflexible device includes a plurality of units arranged in an array, eachof the plurality of units including one or more position sensors of theplurality of position sensors, and each pair of adjacent units of theplurality of units are connected to each other via a flexible connector.3. The system of claim 2, wherein a unit of the plurality of unitsincludes a first layer covering the one or more position sensors of theunit.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein: the unit of the plurality ofunits further includes a second layer, and the one or more positionsensors of the unit are sandwiched between the first layer and thesecond layer.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the support includes apad provided on a scanning table of the imaging device.
 6. The system ofclaim 1, wherein to determine the ROI of the subject, the at least oneprocessor is further configured to cause the system to: determine, basedon the 3D model of the subject, a position of the ROI inside thesubject; obtain second position information of the subject with respectto the imaging device; and determine, based on the position of the ROIinside the subject and the second position information, the ROI of thesubject.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein at least part of the secondinformation is acquired from an image acquisition device or a pluralityof pressure sensors configured in the support.
 8. The system of claim 6,wherein to determine, based on the 3D model of the subject, the positionof the ROI inside the subject, the at least one processor is configuredto cause the system to: acquire information associated with thermaldistribution of the subject; and determine, based on the 3D model of thesubject and the information associated with thermal distribution of thesubject, the position of the ROI inside the subject.
 9. The system ofclaim 8, wherein at least one of the flexible device or the supportincludes one or mare thermal sensors, and at least part of theinformation associated with thermal distribution of the subject isacquired from the one or more thermal sensors.
 10. The system of claim6, wherein to determine, based on the 3D model of the subject, theposition of the ROI inside the subject, the at least one processor isconfigured to cause the system to: acquire physiological data related tothe subject; acquire anatomical information associated with the subject;and determine, based on the 3D model of the subject, the physiologicaldata, and anatomical information associated with the subject, theposition of the ROI inside the subject.
 11. The system of claim 10,wherein the anatomical information associated with the subject includesat least one of historical anatomical information of the subject oranatomical information of one or more reference samples related to thesubject.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein at least part of thephysiological data is acquired from the support or be determined basedon the 3D model of the subject.
 13. The system of claim 1, wherein: thesupport includes a plurality of sensors to collect information relatedto the subject.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein: the plurality ofsensors include at least one of a pressure sensor, a thermal sensor, ora position sensor.
 15. A method implemented on at least one machine eachof which has at least one processor and at least one storage device, themethod comprising: receiving, from a flexible device configured with aplurality of position sensors, first position information related to abody contour of a subject with respect to a support that is independentform the flexible device, the flexible device being worn by the subjectand configured to conform to the body contour of the subject, thesupport being configured to support the subject, the subject beingplaced between the support and the flexible device, and the firstposition information including a plurality of distance measurements,wherein each of the plurality of distance measurements represents adistance between corresponding one of the plurality of position sensorsand the support; generating, based on the first position information, a3-dimensional (3D) model of the subject; and determining, based on the3D model of the subject, an ROI of the subject.
 16. The method of claim15, wherein: the support includes a plurality of sensors to collectinformation related to the subject.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereinthe generating, based on the first position information, a 3-dimensional(3D) model of the subject further include: combining the first positioninformation and the information related to the subject collected by theplurality of sensors; and generating, based on the combined information,the 3D model of the subject.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein: theplurality of sensors include at least one of a pressure sensor, athermal sensor, or a position sensor.
 19. The method of claim 15,wherein the support includes a pad provided on a scanning table of animaging device.
 20. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprisingexecutable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor,cause the at least one processor to effectuate a method for imagereconstruction, the method comprising: receiving, from a flexible deviceconfigured with a plurality of position sensors, first positioninformation related to a body contour of a subject with respect to asupport that is independent form the flexible device, the flexibledevice being worn by the subject and configured to conform to the bodycontour of the subject, the support being configured to support thesubject, the subject being placed between the support and the flexibledevice, and the first position information including a plurality ofdistance measurements, wherein each of the plurality of distancemeasurements represents a distance between corresponding one of theplurality of position sensors and the support; generating, based on thefirst position information, a 3-dimensional (3D) model of the subject;and determining, based on the 3D model of the subject, an ROI of thesubject.